


the skyline looks brighter tonight

by bravefortheboys



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, M/M, ferris wheels and fireworks and other schmoopy things occur, harry works the cotton candy stand, idk man i don't wanna spoil things in the tags yikes, liam and niall just want food and free rides, louis doesn't really wanna be there, perrie is a mystery, they're all at a carnival, zayn works the henna tattoo tent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-17 18:37:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/870729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravefortheboys/pseuds/bravefortheboys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis thinks this whole 'soul mate' thing is just a bit too cliche for him. Then he meets Harry.</p><p>(or where they're all at a carnival and a tarot card reader (who may just be a figment of his imagination) tells Louis that he's going to meet his soul mate)</p>
            </blockquote>





	the skyline looks brighter tonight

**Author's Note:**

> title from Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare by Matt & Kim
> 
> ~
> 
>  
> 
> wOwOw so i haven't posted anything in like 3 months (literally)??? sorry sorry sorry i feel terrible :/   
> happy 4th of july to all my american homies!! i made sure to include some fireworks (literally and figuratively) in here <3

It’s a Friday afternoon when Louis is told he’s going to meet his soul mate.

Naturally, he isn’t into the whole ‘tarot-cards/fortune-telling’ sort of thing because, well, he’d rather _not_ have an old wrinkly hunch-backed lady tell him he’ll be cursed for life. Or something like that. (He watches movies, ok, he knows how these things work).

 He didn’t even _want_ to go to this stupid carnival because there’s a new episode of _Teen Wolf_ that he’s going to miss, but Niall and Liam _insisted_ on paying a visit to Zayn (they really were just in it for free tickets and carnival food).

Originally, he thought the blue and purple tent was like a fancy bathroom because of its rectangular shape. So, obviously, he walked in.

It was _not_ a bathroom, much to his dismay, but it was ‘Madame Edwards’ Magic Tent’ (it was written in glow in the dark ink on a board, and Louis can at least give her props for that). It also turned out that Madame Edwards wasn’t old, wrinky, _or_ hunch-backed, but she did have awfully pale skin and a shit ton of black eyeliner rimmed around her light eyes.

“You’re looking for something,” Madame Edwards greets, and Louis thinks it’s a little redundant for her to be called a ‘madame’ because that seems like such an old name for someone that’s probably his age.

“Mhm, the loo,” Louis replies, taking a cautious step back. The whole tent is lit by lanterns and a circular lava lamp on the middle of the table Madame Edwards is at, and it definitely gives the tent a ‘I’m-going-to-summon-some-demons-so-I-can-read-your-future-and-possibly-kill-you-and-swallow-your-soul’ kind of vibe.

“No, something else. Something _more_.” Madame Edwards clasps her hands together against her chin and takes a deep breath, fluttering her eyes closed momentarily before gesturing to the chair across from her.

“Sit.”

Louis coughs awkwardly and takes another step back because as he recalls, this is the part where she’s going to whip out an Ouija board or voodoo dolls or some crazy shit like that so she can communicate with her friends from the underworld and he’s supposed to get possessed by some kind of creepy demon. Or something like that.

“I’d rather not –”

“Louis,” Madame Edwards says patiently, and Louis’ body visibly jolts. Strangers aren’t supposed to know his name without him telling. That’s why they’re called _strangers_.

Louis sucks in his cheeks and sits down on the cushiony chair, tapping his fingers against the table.

“So, er – _Madame_ _Edwards_ …”

She raises a finger to her lips and shakes her head, pulling out a deck of cards and shuffling them on the table. She flips some over and moves some around and Louis is definitely calling bullshit.

“Louis Tomlinson, 21 years old, pathetically single for 8 months and counting, correct?”

Louis coughs again and looks around, wondering if he can perhaps crawl underneath the tent and run away to a different continent. “Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say _pathetically_ –”

“Do you trust me, Louis Tomlinson?” Madame Edwards asks with her perfectly groomed eyebrow arched up.

“Uh, I mean, I just met you –”

“Yes or no.”

Louis sighs and shrugs. “Fine. Yeah. Whatever.”

Madame Edwards smiles and holds up a card with a sun and the word _Lovers_ written at the bottom.

“Do you have any idea what this means?” she questions.

“Well, seeing as I’m not exactly an _expert_ …” Louis laughs nervously but stops when he sees her unamused face. “I – uh, no. I don’t.”

Madame Edwards smiles sits back in her chair. “You’re going to find your soul mate tonight.”

 

 

That all brings him _here_ , hiding out in Zayn’s tent.

“I mean,” Louis says with his mouth full of over salted popcorn. “You don’t just say those things, y’know? And the way she said it… it was so _casual_.”

“Stay still, _dammit_ , or I’ll make a cock instead of a star,” Zayn orders as he reaches past Louis to grab some more of the glittery gold ink.

“ _Shooting_ star with a blue and pink trail, thank you very much,” Louis corrects, setting the salty popcorn aside before he has a heart attack and leaning against the table. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

Louis sighs. “Look, I know you’re trying to focus, but the _least_ you could do is –”

“Z, I’m back from my break,” a girl’s voice from behind Louis says.

“Took you long enough, Pez,” Zayn grumbles, flashing his eyes up at the girl sternly. Louis looks back and –

“ _SHIT_.” Louis stumbles backwards and cowers behind where Zayn is sitting on his stool. “Stay the _hell_ away.”

“What the fuck is your problem?” the girl/Madame Edwards/Pez (Louis is really confused right now) scoffs.

“Lou, the fuck?” Zayn turns back to stare at Louis with a judging look, and Louis really just can’t seem to move right now.

“That’s her, Zayn,” Louis whispers. “S’Madame Edwards.”

“The _fuck_ did you call me? Did you just call me bitch?” the mystery girl demands while taking a step closer, causing Louis to yelp. (also, he wonders how one would get ‘bitch’ from ‘Madame Edwards’?)

“How do you know Perrie? And why the fu—”

“More like how the _fuck_ did you know mylast name?” Louis snorts, pointing a finger up at Perrie. “And my first name? And my age? And about my pathetic love life? And –”

Zayn cuts Louis off with a sigh and pulls him down by the shirt, yanking his mouth open and taking a whiff.

“Smells like popcorn,” Zayn says.

“That’s because I just _had_ popcorn you f— wait! Hey!” Louis leans back and crosses his arms. “I haven’t been drinking.”

“Drugs?” Zayn inquires with a raised brow.

“Was it shrooms?” Perrie chirps in. “Didja get them from Nick, the ticket guy? Because lemme tell you, they can do some _crazy_ shit—”

“No, no, and _no_!” Louis sighs and runs a frustrated hand through his hair (careful not to bump the unfinished shooting star tattoo on his arm against anything). “I need to go. Sort my head.”

“I haven’t finished your tattoo yet, though! You still need the trail!” Zayn complains, but he’s already putting all the ink back and removing his gloves.

Louis waves him off and gives Perrie an odd look before doing dashing out of the tent and over to where Liam and Niall are claiming their prizes at one of the booths.

“Lou! I won a monkey!” Niall holds up an obnoxiously large stuffed monkey with a proud winning grin.

“ _I_ wanted the monkey,” Liam grumbles, looking down at the large stuffed beluga whale in his hands.

“Get girlfriends,” Louis tells them before pulling them both in by their collars. “I need to tell you guys about something weird.” 

“We already told you, Lou, it’s perfectly fine to get boners while looking at boys –”

“Shut the fuck up.” Louis punches Liam’s shoulder, but not before Liam can laugh boisterously and high-five Niall. “This is serious! Something weird happened but I’m not even sure if it –”

“C’mon! The line for the rollercoaster is shorter now!” Niall pulls both Louis and Liam (and his monkey) along with him across to where the rollercoaster is at.

Once they’re at the line, Louis retries telling Liam and Niall about his problems, but they’re quite literally like toddlers when it comes to rollercoasters (or games. or carnivals. or anything).

“Look, mate,” Niall starts off carefully, looking at Liam (who nods back in approval). “I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re a bit of a buzzkill.”

Louis squawks “But you haven’t even –”

“All he’s saying,” Liam says slowly, “is that _maybe_ we can talk about problems later, yeah? C’mon, we’re at a carnival right now! Woo hoo!’

Louis scowls and beings to walk away, mumbling to himself. “I’m going home early.”

“But we drove together!” Niall whines.

“Get Li and Zayn to drop you off,” Louis says bitterly. He pauses and turns back to face Niall, putting on a smile. “Also, get a cheese pizza on the way back home pretty please with a cherry on top.”

And with that, he walks away and off towards the parking lot. But as he passes the ferris wheel, he sees a cotton candy cart and, really, who is he to deny cotton candy?

So of course, he just _has_ to get some.

“Large or small?” the cart guy asks, and he’s got a huge button that says ‘HARRY’ on it with a quite impressively detailed penis beneath it drawn in orange sharpie.

“Large,” Louis answers a bit too eagerly.

As Harry prepares his cotton candy, Louis still has the strange feeling from the whole tent fiasco. Like, what is he even supposed to do? Was any of that even real? _What the fuck?_

“Erm.” Harry has his hand (more like baseball glove) on Louis’ shoulder and his eyebrows are furrowed with concern. “Y’all right?”

Louis blinks and nods, taking the cotton candy from Harry and taking a bite. “Yeah, m’fine. Yeah.”

“You sure?”

“Well, I dunno actually,” Louis says thoughtfully, resting his elbow on the cart because, well, he needs to vent to _someone_.

Harry nods for Louis to go on as he mixes in ingredients to make more cotton candy.

“See, I saw this tarot-card reader today, yeah? And she told me some weird shit and I obviously freak the fuck out, right?” Louis pauses to take a glob of cotton candy and stick it onto his tongue.

“ _Obviously_ ,” Harry agrees with a small snort, and Louis smiles appreciatively at the responsiveness.

“So I leave and go to my friend Zayn’s tent –”

“Isn’t he one of the henna artists or some—”

“Not now, Harold, I’m trying to explain!” Louis orders, and Harry only laughs and waves his hand for Louis to continue. “So I go to his tent and I see the tarot-card reader! And I’m like ‘what the fuck!’ and she’s also like ‘what the fuck?’ and she didn’t even recognize me! It's like... like _mind games._ Or black magic.  _Fuck_ , what if I was drugged...”

“They’re twins, y’know,” Harry states, handing a customer some cotton candy for a quick moment before turning his attention back to Louis.

“What.”

“Perrie and Carrie,” Harry explains as if it’s common knowledge. “Perrie does the tattoos; Carrie does the tarot-card stuff.”

“Oh.” Louis looks down at his shoes and tries to make sense out of his life. “Well, that solves _one_ of my problems, I guess.”

“One of them?”

“According to _Carrie_ , I’m supposed to meet my soul mate tonight or something,” Louis grumbles, picking at his cotton candy. The more he talks about it, the more it gets him down because it’s just so fucking stupid. Why him? _Why?_

“Ooh! That’s exciting! Congrats!” Harry pats Louis’ back with an excited grin. “Last week she told me I’d come across something very interesting, and that same day I found out that one of my old classmates became a gay pornstar! But yeah, that’s great for you!”

“That’s… cool I guess? And no, not at all,” Louis snorts. “Having a ‘soul mate’ is just a fictionalized concept made by hopeless romantics.”

Harry laughs and shakes his head, bumping Louis’ elbow off the cart. “Is that really what you think?”

“Well, _yeah_.” Louis rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue into the cotton candy, letting the sugary sweetness melt into his mouth. “It’s so stupid. All the ‘other half’ or ‘missing piece’ shit. Like, am I really supposed to believe that there’s someone out there for me that’s _exactly_ like me and was made _just_ for me?”

“I think you have a wrong concept of what a soul mate is, tiny.”

“Oh yeah? First of all, my name’s _Louis,_ and I’m not that tiny,” Louis mumbles. “Second of all, why don’t you explain it to me then, Curly? Since you’re apparently the soul mate expert or something.”

Harry taps his fingers against his chin and looks up thoughtfully.

“Alright, well you’re right about all that being shit,” Harry starts off. “Like, a soul mate isn’t going to be exactly like you and isn’t going to agree with everything you say.”

Louis snorts. “Sounds very promising so far, Harry, keep it up.”

Harry rolls his eyes and helps a customer for a quick moment before returning.

“That’s the point, though. They may not agree on everything or like the same things, but they don’t have to. Do you know why that is, Louis?”

“Tell me please, Harry,” Louis pleads sarcastically, batting his eyelashes and placing his hands over his heart. “because all I hear right now is _shit, shit, shit_.”

Harry takes a piece of Louis’ cotton candy and pops it into his mouth.

“S’cause their love is unconditional,” he says cheesily (Louis soon realizes that everything Harry does is cheesy), swallowing the piece before grinning brightly. “S’cause they don’t need similarities to get on. They just _do_ get on. They, like, think the same way about things and feel the same about other things and, yeah. I dunno.”

“That’s… that’s beautiful, Harry,” Louis says slowly. “But m’afraid it’s also incredibly stupid. And idiotic. And pointless. Just like… like…”

“Like mini-versions of sauces? Because I can’t stand those either.”

“Erm, I was gonna say, like, sleepovers or something.”

“Oh, now you have a problem with sleepovers?” Harry puts his hands on his (nonexistent) hips, but he’s still got a goofy grin playing on his lips.

“Yeah!”

“What’s wrong with them? Are you fun-sucker? Do you just hate everything fun?”

“No, you big jerk!” Louis racks his brain for a valid reason why, and eventually just shrugs it out. “What’s the point of them?”

“What’s the point?!” Harry smacks his hand over his forehead and shakes his head. “They’re _fun_! Staying up late with junk food and girly movies while gossiping and talking about boys and all that stuff! What’s not to love?”

“Probably… all of above.”

“You’re a huge douche bag,” Harry laughs, grabbing a generous chunk of Louis’ cotton candy and sticking it in his mouth. “Blegh, I hate cotton candy.”

“What?!” Louis’ mouth hangs open in disbelief. There’s something terribly wrong with Harry. “I feel very offended right now.”

“But really! Just think about it! Like, what the fuck even is it?” Harry takes another piece (Louis thinks this is just Harry’s way of getting back at him for not paying yet) and pulls it apart. “What the hell is this texture supposed to be? Ew.”

“Hate to break it to you, Curly, but you’re actually working at a cotton candy stand,” Louis informs, ducking his cotton candy away from anymore attacks. “Also, you kept eating mine earlier.”

“Well, _one_ , I needed money and this is simple enough for a summer job,” Harry explains, reaching over with his freakishly long arms (Louis is just gonna assume everything on this boy is long) and takes another piece. “And, _two_ , the sugar keeps me from falling asleep from boredom on the job.”

Louis snorts and takes a step back, motioning for Harry to follow. “C’mon, let’s go ride the ferris wheel or something.”

“Uh, what?”

“S’like 10 or somethin’. No one’s gonna want cotton candy anymore.” Louis motions his hand again. “C’mon! Take that ugly apron off, grab your coat, and let’s go before the line gets long!”

Harry furrows his eyebrows and crosses his arms over his chest. “I care about this job, y’know.”

 

 

Harry doesn’t, in fact, care about his job considering that he’s almost halfway up a ferris wheel with Louis, still trying explain the whole ‘soul mate’ thing to him.

“So are you saying,” Harry proposes, “that if you ever get married –”

“Oh, so now we’re saying _if_? Are you implying that I might not get married?” Louis grins over at Harry’s creeping blush because there’s just _something_ about making attractive guys blush that is just so satisfying.

“You know what I mean, dolt,” Harry sighs. “Anyways, as I was saying. You wouldn’t call your wife—”

“ _Husband_ ,” Louis corrects, and he’s sure to keep an eye on for Harry’s expression.

“Dammit, Lou, let a boy finish a sentence!” Harry’s laughing, though, and there’s also something quite nice about making attractive guys laugh. “You wouldn’t call your husband your soul mate?”

Louis shrugs, running his fingers over Harry’s coat (it’s so trendy and hip looking and unfitting for someone who works at a cotton candy stand).

“S’quite a big title, y’know?” Louis fiddles with his thumbs. “I mean, _maybe_. Like, if I meet a guy that _really_ sweeps me off my feet and makes me feel—”

Louis stops when the ride halts because now they’re at the top and now they’re _stuck_ on the top.

“Sorry, but there seems to be some technical difficulties with the ferris wheel. We’re working on it as we speak. Thank you for your cooperation,” a dull voice says into a megaphone (this is most likely the cheapest carnival Louis has ever been to).

“God, this is _so_ cliché,” Louis groans, resting his head against the metal pole. “You might as well call me Noah.”

“I think _I’m_ more of the Noah here, to be honest. You’d be Allie. And honestly, it could be worse,” Harry shrugs. There’s a pause before Harry swings his arm behind Louis and scoots closer. “I _could_ point out that the stars are shining especially bright tonight, and that they illuminate your every feature with such gentleness that I –”

“You’ve made your point.”

Harry chuckles and Louis can’t do much except join in because it’s not very often he actually enjoys himself while being cuddled up with some stranger.

Louis decides _what the fuck_ and rests his head onto Harry’s shoulder because if they’re already acting sickly, he might as well get cozy.

“Really though,” Harry murmurs. “You look nice in this lighting.”

Louis looks up (without moving his head away from Harry’s shoulder, of course) and raises an eyebrow. “In nighttime lighting? I look good in the dark?”

Harry widens his eyes and shakes his head defensively. “No! I mean, like –”

“Relax!” Louis laughs breathily and rolls his eyes, smacking Harry’s torso (and maybe letting his hand linger there because _wow_ it goes on for miles) and resting back into him. “I’m just messing with you.”

“Oh! Well, ok. I knew that,” Harry says cooly, resting his head on top of Louis’.

“Don’t push it, Curly.”

Harry moves his head off quickly and laughs. “Right, yeah. Sorry. Maybe our next date.”

Louis purses his lips tightly together to suppress a laugh, but can’t seem to hold in a small smile and a hint of a blush (he feels like Lottie or something and it’s a bit disgusting).

 

++

 

They made it off the ferris wheel alive (thankfully) after a few long minutes of idiot repair people trying to work the ancient levers.   

And as if the Rom-Com Gods are watching over them tonight, the fireworks show begins right as they step off.

“Perfect timing, eh?” Harry nudges Louis elbow and grins proudly

“Don’t you have a cotton candy stand to get back to?” Louis taunts, scrunching his face up at Harry and sticking his tongue out.

“Yeah, but if I went back to that, I’d be leaving a pretty amazing bloke,” Harry winks.

 “Well, when you put it _that_ way…” Louis grins, nodding his head over to where they can get closer to the show. “To the fireworks it is!”

They walk over to where the rest of the crowd is, and Louis just stares up in awe as the sky lights up with colors and booms.

“C’mon.” Louis feels a tugging on his hand and he’s practically stumbling his own legs while being dragged by Harry.

“But the fireworks are just starting!” Louis whines because this was definitely Harry’s opportunity to make an actual move.

Harry turns his head to the side and smiles back at Louis over his shoulder. “I know.”

 

They arrive on top of a hill overlooking the carnival and fireworks, and it’s entirely unoccupied except for the two of them.

“Harry Styles – the romantic,” Louis teases dreamily, grinning at Harry’s meek expression. “It has a nice ring to it.”

“Just thought it’d be better than being cramped with smelly tourists who’ve been out and sweating all day,” Harry says with a shrug.

“I like the way you think!” Louis pulls on a strand of Harry’s curls (affectionately, of course) and sighs contently, observing the fireworks idly. It’s weird how even though they’re technically farther away, the fireworks seem _louder_ and _brighter_.

It’s kind of hard to focus, though, when he’s _freezing his nuts off_. Like, why is it this cold in the summer? Why is it hot as balls in the day with almost no air, but at night it’s like fucking Antarctica?

“Are you cold?”

Before Louis has a chance to even breathe _no_ (he’s a man, dammit, he shouldn’t need someone else’s coat), Harry is already shrugging off his coat and draping it over Louis’ shoulder.

Louis grins and blinks before leaning in to peck Harry’s cheek (it’s a peck, ok, _toddlers_ do it. it’s innocent. shut up). “Thanks for this monster-sized coat.”

“S’not my fault you need to shop in the little boys’ section for your clothes, tiny.” Harry lays back comfortably and winks up at Louis.

“ _Oh no_! Please don’t eat me, sasquatch!” Louis giggles (he’s slowly turning into an actual toddler, he thinks) as he lies down beside Harry, shifting the coat so it’s laying over both of them (it’s _that_ big).

“The only thing monster-sized about me is my –”

“Don’t say –”

“—cock.”

Louis sighs and slings his leg over Harry’s, scooting closer to bump heads. “Hate you.”

Harry just laughs and looks up at the fireworks booming over them, occasionally flinching away like a kid or something. Louis finds it sickly endearing.

 Louis _wants_ to look at the fireworks, but he also kind of _needs_ to just look at Harry for a little. He needs to observe every single part of him till it’s memorized and kept safe in his mind.

His eyes roam from his soft and silky hair to his bright green eyes to his pillowy and smooth lips. Louis has the strongest urge to _feel_ now, so he reaches out and slides his fingers along Harry’s jawline.

“Louis, what –”

“Sh,” Louis instructs, delicately moving his fingers down his neck and over his adam’s apple.

“That feels weird.”

“ _You_ feel weird,” Louis replies, though it’s quite the opposite because honestly, Harry feels quite nice.

Louis drags his hand over to Harry’s shoulder, carefully moving down to his bicep and – he stops when he can vaguely see flecs of gold peeking from under Harry’s black T-shirt. 

“What’s that?”

“Oh!” Harry carefully rolls up his sleeve to reveal a sparkly gold shooting star that has blue and pink trails shooting behind it. “Had Perrie do this for me earlier. Pretty ace, right? She made fun of me for it, but it’s a _shooting star_ , y’know?”

Louis freezes for a second, trying to process everything. And like, _everything._

He finds himself smiling wide enough to make his face sore, and he doesn’t have to think twice before leaning into Harry close enough so their lips touch, shifting in even closer to slowly connect their chests, too.

“Would you care to spend the night at my flat night?” Louis asks once they’ve paused for a break and are resting their foreheads together. “We could, like, have pizza and watch flicks like a proper sleepover.”

“I’d _love_ to,” Harry replies instantly with shining eyes, threading his fingers through Louis’. “But there’s a new episode of _Teen Wolf_ tonight, so just know that I’ll probably hog the TV, eat all your pizza, and ignore the shit out of you for an hour or so.”

It’s a Friday night when Louis realizes that he’s met his soul mate.

**Author's Note:**

> heh yeah so i know perrie doesn't have a twin but oH WEllLL maNNnN ~~
> 
>  
> 
> my tumblr is [bravefortheboys](http://bravefortheboys.tumblr.com/) if you want prompts and updates or if ya just wanna say hi :-)


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